Claim 3: Communicating Reasoning - Students can clearly and precisely construct viable arguments to support their own reasoning and to critique the reasoning of others.

Learn About Claim 3

• What is the rationale for Claim 3?
  This claim refers to a recurring theme in the CCSSM content and practice standards: the ability to construct and present a clear, logical, convincing argument. For older students this may take the form of a rigorous deductive proof based on clearly stated axioms. For younger students this will involve more informal justifications. Read more.

• What does sufficient evidence looks like for Claim 3?
  Assessment of this claim can be accomplished with a variety of item/task types, including selected response and short constructed response items, and with extended constructed response tasks. Sufficient evidence would be unlikely to be produced if students were not expected to produce communications about their own reasoning and the reasoning of others. Read more.

• What are the assessment targets for Claim 3?
  Claim #3 is aligned to the mathematical practices from the MCCSS, which are consistent across grade levels. For this reason, the Assessment Targets are not divided into a grade-by-grade description. Rather, a general set of targets is provided, which can be used as guidance for the development of item and test specifications for each grade. Read more.

Unit/Lesson Planning

Tools

• Understanding the Standards
• California's eStandards for CCSS    
  Search the CCSS for ELA & Literacy and Math by keyword
• Mathematical Practices Learning Community Templates (Utah)    
  Nine templates from the Utah State Office for Eduation for use in professional learning around the CCSS Mathematical Practices.
• Math Practices Poster in Student Language   12/03/2012 (566.38 KB)
  Created by the Jordan School District, these posters offer student friendly descriptions of each of the eight mathematical practices.
• CCSS Math Practices Posters in Spanish    
  These posters were designed by Javier S. Guerrero and are provided as part of the Common Core Translation Project.

• Planning Templates
• CCSS Student Report Templates (K-5)    
  These templates, designed by Corvallis SD TOSA Chris Caster, include the standards for each grade K-5 and are designed to be used to track CCSS related assignments and assessments. Scroll down to "Standards Report" to find the templates.
• Quality Review Rubric for Units and Lessons    
  The Tri-State Collaborative (composed of educational leaders from Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island and facilitated by Achieve) has developed criterion-based rubrics and review processes to evaluate the quality of lessons and units intended to address the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.

Teaching & Learning

Tools

• Videos of instruction
• How to Teach Math as a Social Activity    
  A master math teacher in Anchorage, Alaska, establishes a cooperative-learning environment in an upper-elementary classroom.
• Think, Pair, Share to Practice Simplifying Expressions    
  7th grade student practice simplifying expressions using a think-pair-share strategy and critique each others thinking and defending their own answers. Focus on Math Practice 3.
• Carlos and Sara Present Their Solutions (Grade 3)    
  Learn from student responses to mental math and student-led solutions.

• Differentiating for individual student needs
• Meeting the Needs of Students with Disabilities and Diverse Learners    
  The documents on these pages provide all educators with resources that focus on the differentiated instruction of students with special needs. Educators should continue to reference the resources available on other CCSS pages for content-specific information.
• Meeting the Needs of English Language Learners    
  The documents on this page provide all educators with resources that focus on the needs of English language learners. Educators should continue to reference the resources available on other CCSS pages for content-specific information.
• Differentiation Training Module    
  This site contains 10 training modules on differentiation, developed as part of the Oregon DATA Project. GET PASSWORD

• Instructional Strategies
• Mathematics Assessment Project PD Module: Improved Learning Through Questioning    
  This unit contains a selection of professional activities that are designed to help teachers to reflect on: •characteristics of their questioning that encourage students to reflect, think and reason; •ways in which teachers might encourage students to provide extended, thoughtful answers, without being afraid of making mistakes; •the value of showing students what reasoning means by 'thinking aloud'.
• Mathematics Assessment Project PD Module: Students Working Collaboratively    
  This unit is designed to offer the professional development provider some resources that will help teachers to: •consider the characteristics of student-student discussion that benefit learning; •recognize and face their own worries about introducing collaborative discussion; •explore techniques for promoting effective student-student discussion; •consider their own role in managing student-student discussion; •plan discussion based lessons.
• Writing to Develop Understanding    
  This article provides four student solutions to a problem, and discusses how to help students develop their communication skills in math.
• Writing in Math    
  This page from West Virginia's Teach 21 web site offers resources and tools for supporting teachers in implementing writing in math instruction.
• Practical Strategies to Improve Academic Discussions in Mixed Ability Secondary Content Area Classrooms   07/25/2012 (129.30 KB)
  This article by Kevin Feldman and Kate Kinsella outlines 5 key principles to structuring academic discussions so that all students are productively engaged.
• Structuring Active Learning   07/25/2012 (101.41 KB)
  Thie one page document offers suggestions from Kevin Feldman on structuring active learning to increase student engagement.

• Lessons
  NOTE: The inclusion of links to these sites does not constitute an endorsement by ODE.
• National Digital Science Library    
  The NSDL Math Common Core collection features digital learning resources that address concept and skills components of the Math Common Core State Standards.
• EduCore: Math Tools    
  Formative assessment lessons and instructional videos for mathematics aligned to the Common Core.
• Open Education Resources (OER) Commons    
  A collection of open education resources (OER) including Common Core implementation plans, transition guides, assessment tasks, exemplars and curriculum.

Assessment

Tools

• MAP Professional Development Module: Formative Assessment    
  The effective use of formative assessment lessons depends on the quality of feedback given by teachers to students. One important way of moving students’ thinking forward is to prompt them to reconsider their reasoning by asking carefully chosen questions.

• Smarter Balanced Sample Summative Items for Teachers
  Covering all possible item types (selected response, constructed response, extended response, technology enhanced, and performance tasks), these samples include student items, as well as sample student responses and evaluation rubrics where appropriate. Educators can use these items to get an idea of how to design classroom tasks that will prepare students for the Smarter Balanced Assessment.
• Grades 3-5    
• Grades 6-8    
• High School    
  
• Sample Items and Tasks for Students    
  The items on these sites include a combination of computer adaptive items (selected response, constructed response, extended response) and performance tasks. Items can be scored using sample student responses and their accompanying scores as reference for reviewing your answer.
• Smarter Balanced Training Tests    
  Training tests for each grade level and subject area have been released to assist students with becoming familiar with the new item types that are present on the Smarter Balanced Pilot Test. NOTE: The training tests and online calculators can only be accessed on Mozilla Firefox.

• Mark Freed     (503) 947-5610
  Teaching & Learning Team - Education Specialist